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Sep 2, 2019

Monday September 2, 2019 Matt McKinley

Theme: LABOR DAY (64. September
2, 2019 ... and what the first words of the answers to starred clues
commemorate) - The first word can follow LABOR.

17A. *New Year's Eve headwear: PARTY HAT. Labor Party,

40A. *Billiards stick: POOL CUE. Labor pool.

11A. *Ground out on which the fielder needn't tag the runner: FORCE PLAY. Labor force.

35A. *Great Britain's flag: UNION JACK. Labor union.

Boomer here.

Greetings
all. Wishing you a restful holiday. Why do the call it Labor Day and
then give 3/4 of the country the day off work? But most of all, I am
sure most of you will join me in wishing safety and free of damage to
Lemonade and all who may be in the path of Dorian along the Southeastern
shoreline of our country.

Across:

1. Grazing area: LEA. In Southern Minnesota we have a small city named Albert Lea, named after a famous soldier and surveyor in the 19th century.

4. Islamic mystic: SUFI.

8. Would rather have: PREFER. I would PREFER an easier clue.

14. Rock concert gear: AMP. Okay, I know what turns up the volume, but to me an AMP will always be a measure of electricity.

15. Mellowed in a cask: AGED. Or me in a townhouse.

16. Novelist __ de Balzac: HONORE.

19. Offshore driller: OIL RIG. Maybe Desper-otto can tell us if they are still doing this. I remember BP having a problem in the Gulf of Mexico.

20. Loses speed: SLOWS.

21. Absorbed: RAPT.

23. Treats with a cold pack: ICES. I have been treating aches and pains with a heating pad. I am ready to try ice.

24. Weather-affecting current: EL NINO. I think I still have that Storm bowling ball.

5. "That stinks!": UGH. This could be an acronym for an Under Ground Home. Might be useful this week in Florida.

6. Fright: FEAR.

7. Suitcase tie-on: ID TAG. And yet Airlines still lose them.

8. Kind of "Star Trek" torpedo: PHOTON.

9. King, in France: ROI.

10. Give some pep to: ENLIVEN. Remember a breakfast cereal called "Pep"? Then you are old enough to eat Grape Nuts.

12. Canal across New York: ERIE. There's that Great Lake again. Must be superior to the others.

13. Rules, briefly: REGS.

18. Woven fabric: TWILL. Wow! I have not seen TWILL fabric since Pep was a cereal.

22. Harry and William of England: PRINCES.
Without the "S" - this Purple Rain guy is a Minnesota icon. There is a
museum in a Southwest suburb of Minneapolis. Even the Twins had a
Prince night where they gave away purple stuff.

25. Enzo's eight: OTTO. I have heard of OTTO Von Bismarck. Not sure if the capital city of North Dakota was named after him.

27. Slobbery comics pooch: ODIE.
Jim Davis created Garfield and this dog. The reason I remember this is
that we had a Lithonia lighting rep Named Jim Davis that called on Graybar, and we used
to call him ODIE.

29. Frequents, as a store: SHOPS AT.

31. Get under control: TAME.

32. Interstate rds.: HWYS.
I think the Interstate highway system that was initially created by
Dwight Eisenhower was a great idea. We have an I-35W in Minnesota that
could have been planned better though. A few years ago a bridge (and a
bunch of cars) fell into the Mississippi River, They rebuilt the bridge, and now they have a big
mess downtown while they add a few lanes.

33. Vittles on the trail: GRUB. J.K Simmons, (The State Farm ad guy) used to call lunch "GRUB" when he was Emil Skoda on "Law and Order".

34. Prefix with correct: AUTO. It does it by itself.

37. Symphonic rock gp.: ELO.

40. Ache: PAIN. You name it, I got it.

41. Infield quartet: UMPS. In the majors only. Lower divisions get by with one or two.

46. Substantially: BY FAR.

48. Cuts off, as diplomatic ties: SEVERS.

50. Inform on: RAT OUT.

52. Big fight: MELEE. NHL season is right around the corner.

54. Continue until: END AT.

55. Jewel-studded topper: TIARA.

56. "I did good!": YAY ME.

57. Massage deeply: ROLF.
A treatment. I am surprised that there is no commercial on TV -- "Ask
your doctor if ROLFING is right for you." Or why doesn't Joe Namath let
you know that Medicare does not cover Rolfing.

58. Rectangle measure: AREA. Lengths times Width

60. Mission Control org.: NASA.

63. Olympic country code alphabetically just before GHA: GER.

65. Music majors' degs.: BAS.

Last Word. I woke up Saturday morning to learn that Valerie Harper
passed away. Of course I always liked the Mary Tyler Moore show because
they pretended it was in Minneapolis even though the only Minneapolis
scenes were Mary walking along Lake of the Isles, and tossing her hat on
Hennepin Avenue. Valerie played Rhoda Morgenstern well, and earned a
few Emmy awards. But my newspaper informed me that Valerie was
diagnosed with brain cancer in 2013 and given about three months to
live. Six years later it caught up with her. Thank you for setting an
example for me, Rhoda. Now rest in peace.

Can't believe I needed four servings of Wite-Out on a Monday: PAPER/PARTY, FORCE PLAY/FORCED OUT (What do I know?), GORP/GRUB, BFA/BAS. But YAY ME, I got 'er done. I saw the LABOR DAY, didn't realize that was the theme. D'oh! Thanks, Matt and Boomer.

OTTO: Prefix for "correct."

"Bismarck": Thought it was named for a doughnut.

LOTS: The LOT next to our woodlot has been cleared and awaits a buyer. Pavers will be back tomorrow to work on the street in front of our two LOTS.

BOO HISS: Always heard it as a quadratic exclamation ending with Horse.....

OIL RIG: On-shore drilling has recovered, thanks to fracking in the Permian basin. Off-shore drilling, not so much. The company I worked at had 40-odd rigs when I retired. Now they have 16, 10 of them new-builds since I left. Their stock has been depressed for years, and is still trading close to their 52-week low. Today is not a good time to be an off-shore driller.

LAPSE: Yup! You know what they say, the mind is the second thing to go.

I love a puzzle that keeps me in the dark regarding the theme, until the reveal gets filled in. This was the case today and it being a tribute to Labor Day increased the enjoyment of the solve. I thought there were some crunchy words for a Monday, not for me, per se, but for newbie solvers: Sufi, ROLF, Tania, Photon, and Honore. But, OTOH, the crosses were fair, so I guess all's well. Utica was a given, as was Abejo's ubiquitous Erie, HG's NASA, and DO's Otto.

Thanks, Matt, for a pleasant segue into September and thanks, Boomer, for the fun, facts, and chuckles, or for some, chortles. I share your feelings about Valerie Harper which you expressed so poignantly. She and Mary Tyler Moore lit up the TV screen with their talent and personalities. RIP, Ms. Harper.

All eyes are on Dorian and all thoughts are for the safety of those being threatened by this catastrophic storm. Stay safe, everyone.

I ordered my Mike's pillow yesterday and will give a report when I receive it and put it to the rest test!

FIR, but had to fix TANyA to get my TIARA. DNK SUFI or EMALL, nor, for that matter de Balzac. I have a friend whose last name is Blomquist and his childhood friends called him "Bloomers". I can imagine what de Balzac's pals called him.

Ford and Dodge once offered V-TEN gas engines. Lots of power, and enough torque for most. Now that diesel pickups are quieter and smoother than they used to be, they are a better choice for towing if you can afford one.

I didn’t know ROLF or FAKIR so a DNF for me on a Monday! Boomer's expo was great, as always. I couldn’t fall asleep last night, so worked on the puzzle. Sailed right through until that F in the bottom corner. Stay safe in Florida.

If there was any doubt the other day whether or not NONO was a legitimate crossword entry, that was erased this morning. Lol

I've read several articles about yesterday's achievement from different sources on my handheld news device and every one of them had NO-NO ether in the headline or somewhere in the story.

Congrats go to Justin Verlander of the Houston 'Stros no-hitting the Toronto Blue Jay's. Almost perfect, but had one walk in a dominant performance. With his supermodel wife away at a film festival in Italy, I wonder how he managed to celebrate.

A story that includes shout outs to AnonT, C'eh and poor lamenting JazzB.

Easy LABOR related puzzle. No searches needed. Got ROLF and ELO from perps.NINE AM - Never had a job that started that late. 0830 for a few years, but 0800 most of the time.CSO's à moi with UTICA and ERIE. After the leaves fall, I can see UTICA from the hillside on which I sit. The ERIE canal passes through UTICA. Lived in ERIE Co. for 20 years. My Master's thesis involved certain hydraulic aspects of L. Erie. And now ERIE is a frequent visitor in cw's.

Thanks Boomer for your expo. Poignant thoughts about Ms. Harpers passing. We can identify with them.

Abejo, when I lived in Madison the Fauerbach Brewery there was vying for the title of "worst beer ever." Coincidentally, the owner of that brewery got his start in Utica with the Bierbauer Brewery, the forerunner to the Matt Brewery which makes Utica Club. The story going around was that a sample of Fauerbach beer was sent to the Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture for purity testing. The report which came back read, "Sir, we regret to inform you that your horse has diabetes."

Nolan, Justin Verlander played his high school ball around here, and was a star at Norfolk's Old Dominion University. Local kid made it big.

Never tried a Utica Club, but Lucky Lager was the worst beer I ever drank, with a close runner-up being Schmidt's of Philadelphia. Our "baseball beers" Hudephol and Falls City weren't exactly award winners either.

So far so good here in So.Fla. It looks like Broward and Miami-dade will dodge another bullet. Thank you all for the good thoughts for our safety.

Matt is another entertaining Matt puzzle creator here and there were some fun clue/fill combos. But, my favorite part was the appearance of Give some pep to: ENLIVEN which gave Boomer another excuse to refer to the cereal that obviously had a lasting effect on him as he did on JULY 23, 2019 LA Times write-up.

Add Jinx to the shout-out list. Local kid makes it big? I'd say!! The articles I read this morning were debating Justin's place in baseball history. With names like Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Bob Feller and Cy Young being bandied about, I'd say your local boy has definitely made the big time.

Bad beer? In my cheap beer days we would buy Burger Beer and Meister Brau in bulk. Ugh. I kinda liked the other options of Old Milwaukee(old mildew) or Milwaukee's Best(the beast). Kids these days at the campus near me seem to buy 30 packs of Natural Light(natty light) to play their beer games like beer pong. The local convenience store has them stacked in large displays with banners showing the price at 15 bucks for a cube. My favorite Oktoberfest brew comes in close to that for a sixpack.

Musings -A fun, timely puzzle. SUFI and OTTO thrown in for learning-The LABOR POOL around here is very shallow as jobs and help-wanted signs abound-Too many rely on HOT TAKES and not IN DEPTH reporting-Being called SPRY at 73-yrs-old is an ambiguous compliment-FAKIRS claimed this was a great feat but it is a simple physics demo anyone can do-Is it time for this UMP Joe West to retire?-Fireworks around the Fourth in our town are supposed to END AT 11pm but…-D-O, I laughed out loud at that one!

Like IM said, the crosses were fair and filled in the unknowns of SUFI, HONORE, TANIA, FAKIRS and ROLF. LABOR DAY as a theme was a gimme.

Good puzzle and BOOMER'S expo was another ENLIVENed tour.

I lived in Melbourne for a while, but never experienced a hurricane there. However, living in the DC metro area in Maryland, there were a few that decided to come up near the Chesapeake and dump a lot of rain and wind. Agnes in 1972 was the first, Eloise (1975), Fran (1996), Tropical Storm Allison (2001), Jeanne (2001), Ernesto (2006), Irene (2011), Sandy (2012), and the worst was Isabelle in 2003 when my house was flooded from all of the rain and we had no electricity for over a week. Luckily we were not on the coast and therefore weren't subjected to storm surge.

Musings 2-YAY ME?? While golfing with my grandson and son-in-law yesterday I watched SIL slice the ball constantly and at the ninth hole I showed him what he was doing wrong and had him practice the correction on the tee box. On his very next shot he finally hit the ball straight down the middle but I am still not sure what he thought of my giving him advice.-My usual rule of golf - No one wants to hear your excuses or advice

SUFI and ROLF were new to me. Didn't really slow me down or keep me from a successful solve.

Nice job, Boomer. More dinger records for the Twins ! And still 24 or 25 games to go.

Wilbur FLN, I don't have the authority to create New Post entries on OKL's blog, plus I really don't have much interest in the Jumble. In fact, I'm kinda losing interest in solving crosswords. Burn out.

Funny story, D-O.

My least favorite beer is Coors or Coors Light. I'll go without if that's the only choice.

Husker, I didn't see that clip with Joe West. It looks like he's not physically fit enough to continue. There have been times I thought his vision would have precluded him from going another season, but he keeps coming back...

Marvelous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Matt and Boomer.No newspaper on this LABOuR Day holiday; I decided to try out the Washington Post link. It is now bookmarked on my laptop, as it worked well and gave me my time (13:30) and score (810).How appropriate to have OSHA in the grid for Labour Day.

Unknowns today included SUFI, FAKIRS and ROLF but the perps were friendly.Misdirections included Rock gear (I was thinking of a T-shirt), and Absorbed (nothing to do with a liquid!).Albany would not fit and UTICA is closer to Syracuse (on the east). ERIE is even farther away, to the west.

I smiled to see OTTO and AUTO (BOO HISS to the many odd results that AUTOcorrect can give.)I also smiled at the French ROI and British PRINCES. We also had a TIARA for the missing Princess.

I noted several baseball references today with UMPS, ARM, FORCE PLAY (like d'OTTO I wanted Forced Out) and thought perhaps this was a C.C. CW.Nolan@8:56 - Yes, congrats to AnonT et al. for the Stros' win and Verlander no-hitter over the Jays.To add salt to the wound, it was Verlander's second time against the Jays in the same stadium - he loves that mound at the Rogers Centre."Verlander became the first pitcher in major-league history to record multiple no-hitters in a single venue, but more importantly in his view, he became the sixth pitcher in major-league history to toss at least three no-hitters" You can read more here (also an interesting back-story about Toro) (note the bold for D4!):VerlanderNoHitter

Boomer, re Jacob and Esau: I think you may have these twins confused with another pair of biblical twins, Cain and Abel. Jacob tricked his father Isaac into giving him the blessing reserved for the elder son. But Jacob did not kill Esau; actually Jacob had to flee to prevent Esau from killing him.

BTW, I did start Bowling last week. Nothing to brag about however. 153-219-168>540. No bowling on holidays, next stop is Thursday Night. Then medical procedures that will keep me off the lanes for a week. See you later.

So much for the fun, lighthearted conversation about beer, baseball and crosswords...let us instead get into a hurtful, hateful and controversial conversation about politics, economic theory and overall mire.

Really Jerome?

Have a great Labor Day celebration to all others here. Let's not take the bait of contrarianism.

Delightful Labor Day puzzle--many thanks, Matt. I sailed right through this one until I came to the bottom southwest, where I had a moment of worry since I didn't know FAKIRS. But it all worked out--Yay (YAY ME?)! Got HONORE and had to laugh at BOO HISS. And EL NINO reminded me of all the folks in the path of the hurricane today--hope everyone stays safe. Thanks again for a fun puzzle, Matt, and Boomer, your cheerful comments always get my week off to a great start--thanks for that too.

I too loved Rhoda and am so glad that Valerie Harper had those extra years in her life.

I watched a wonderful flashback to 50 Years of Peter, Paul, and Mary on TV last night. Couldn't believe that I actually remembered the lyrics of every single song, along with the variations of their wonderful mellow voices. A charming and sweet treat.

SUFI and FAKIRS in the same puzzle! That brings memories of visiting Turkey in my traveling days. Now that I've AGED traveling is not much in my plans but I have great memories, including time in GERmany. In Sweden, where it originated, our guides explained the ROLF procedure which employs hot rocks for the massage.

BOOHISS. Alex Trebek is the only person I've heard say it.

ELO and EMO confuse me so it takes perps to complete it.

Canadian Eh!:Thank you for clearing up the story. I couldn't imagine which Bible had ESAU killing Jacob.

Yesterday I heard from Fermatprime. She is all right except for having problems with her brain and hasn't done many puzzles lately.

Am I missing something and has fall started? Even when it does on the 21st we will still experience 100 degree heat.

KerryS_in_Carefree, I assume that's Carefree AZ. In my drinking days I loved to sit around the Satisfied Frog restaurant in Cave Creek, about a driver + 5 iron from Carefree, and drink waaay too much of their locally produced Frog Light.

I agree with your assessment of Coors Light. It's like sex in a canoe - f***ing near water.

Hi everybody. Here's my additional vote for Brew 102 as being one of the worst beers ever. Utica Club and Lucky Lager get an additional vote from me too. Ithaca had a bad one too. Genesee I think it was.

Very sad about Valerie Harper. I loved watching her on the Mary Tyler Moore show when I was a child.

Thank you Jinx for the PHOTON Torpedo acknowledgement. Picard was an explorer, a scientist and a man of peace. But there were times when it was helpful to have the PHOTON torpedoes as a backup to diplomacy.

When I first joined our local Sierra Club board of directors I helped arrange a tour of one of our local OIL RIGs.

DW and I were recently on the sister boat Truth for a similar live-aboard excursion to our Channel Islands. So awful to think of how these people died. We were sleeping in those same bunks under the water line on the Truth just about a month ago.

I didn't catch the show that Misty saw, but I have a CD of all the old Peter, Paul & Mary songs, and it's true that those lyrics have stayed with me through the decades. Of course they have two advantages in the mnemonic-stakes: (1) the words are set to music, an automatic aid to memory, and (2) we absorbed the lyrics when our brains were young and more able to retain for the long haul. And, of course, there is a 3d factor: these were just great numbers!

Boomer ~ Your thoughts about Valerie Harper bring her death home to us, but it's your identification with her longevity that is most meaningful. Yes, let her survival serve as a powerful example to all of us. Every actor appreciates an ovation. Thank you, Ms. Harper. Cue the applause! ~ OMK____________DR: Four diagonals today. A 3-way on the near side and a singleton in the mirror.I was saddened to read (via Picard's link) of the terrible fire & loss of the dive boat Conception with at least 34 souls off the Channel Islands. I used to dive there in my old Scuba days, and it is heartbreaking to learn how a locale of so much beauty and pleasure can be turned into a sudden inferno.I see in an anagram of today's main NW to SE diagonal an unintended tribute to those who seek the "unicorns" of the seas, to those willing to dive to ..."NARWAL DEPTH"!

As a former UMP I came to realize that players, through natural bias, actually 'see' the play their way. eg A FORCE PLAY at first for which an UMP can be virtually perfect.*

D4-Dave, I missed your "rabbit" and spent the day thinking it was 8/31

Let's not forget Larry Corcoran whose three no-nos came in the 1880s

Re. Joe West and getting hit…Back in the day I was umpiring and there was a play at second and then a at at the plate. With my back turned I ducked just as the ball flew past where my head was. My fellow UMP in the stands watching thought it remarkable**

Enough of Wilbur

WC.

* Except Cardinal fans might disagree re. 1985 WS

** Re. "Back in the day..". I was three sheets but substituted for no show

I liked this puzzle. Before starting to solve it, just looking at the grid, seeing so much white space made me wonder if today was really Monday. It looked Thursday-hard. But it did turn out to be Monday-easy. Fortunately I knew of the ROLF technique and I knew what FAKIRS are, so I was able to fill that corner F. I believe I first learned what a fakir is from reading something by Rudyard Kipling. (A friend of mine once informed me, while giggling uncontrollably, that in her native language "fakir" rhymes with "sucker.")

Gotta admit I was not, until today, familiar with the term EMALL.

There was a famous series of comic books in France during the '60s called "Asterix the Gaul."

I apologize Jayce for being about 12 minutes late to nipping that inappropriate conversation in the bud. It was still was effective though as everyone was off enjoying this great holiday at the time.

I smell burgers grilling and see children enjoying watermelon. Btw with the popularity of seedless watermelon, gone are the days of a seed spitting contest. And arguably the old fashioned taste of a seeded fruit.

I just looked up "Labor Day" on Wikipedia, and found this explanation of its history:

"Labor Day in the United States of America is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American labor movement and the power of collective action by laborers,[1] who are essential for the workings of society. It is the Monday of the long weekend known as Labor Day Weekend. It is recognized as a federal holiday.

Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor."

Which reminds me of bad tasting beer.Canadian Eh May disagree, but i always thought Molsons(In the green bottle) tastes skunked.

Actually the worst beer I ever tasted really was skunked...In prep for a Labor Day weekend camping trip, stashed some beers in the woodsTrying to save weight with all the tents and gear.The trip got called off due to bad weather, and the beer sat there for twoWeeks in 90 degree heat before I could retrieve it.(Raccoons liked it tho...)

Which reminded me of more bad thinking (or parsing...)Boomer said:2. Online shopping mecca: E-MALL. C.C. does a bit of online shopping. Saves on gasolineAnd i thought, gee! I didn't know you could buy gasoline online?

Picard - we heard about that terrible accident earlier in the day. How awful to have your own memories of a similar boat and outing! Tragedies like that (and even the death of favourite stars like Valerie Harper) remind us of our own mortality. But there will also be stories of courage and survival.

Boomer, I am very impressed with what you thought was Nothing to brag about, however. 153-219-168=540. I was also impressed with your comments about Valerie Harper who was a big part of our early life.

R.I.P. Valerie Harper. I loved her as Rhoda and am so glad she got six extra years before she succumbed to cancer. Even if she was suffering, I'm sure it meant the world to her family to have her around and allowed them to care for her.

No thoughts from me about beer of any kind. I dislike the taste and smell of it.

I've been on a dive boat similar to the one that burned. Our Phoenix dive club took a bus to San Diego, slept while the boat motored to San Clemente Island (maybe 100 miles south of Santz Cruz), dove and napped all the next day, then slept on the return trip. We had a few people who slept above deck, but it gets COLD at night even in late summer. Guess no one did that on this trip.

I dove a sister ship to Jacques-Cousteau's Calypso that is on the bottom near the eastern shore of Anacapa Island, probably less than 5 miles from yesterday's disaster. But it was on a buddy's boat, and was close enough to zip back and forth from Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, so no sleeping overnight.

Skootch over Montana (and CED) and make room on the Group-FIW bench. I had ROLL(?) for the deep rub and no idea what a -AKIRS is.

Hi All!

Thanks Matt for the LABOR DAY puzzle and thanks Boomer for the write-up. I loved Rhoda (and MTM) - I read of Valarie's passing a few days after she was in the puzzle last week. RIP Valarie.As for off-shore OIL RIGs, on-shore fracking is much cheaper to produce a BOE (but a LOT of wasted gas) - the company I work for sold off much of our off-shore. //BOE - Barrel of Oil Equivalent.

WOs: LABOR lAw b/f fixing up the SE. LECToR b/f GER became apparent.ESPs: HONORE, TANIA, Fav: PRINCES. Not for the two cited but for eliciting The Spin Doctors.

OKL - If you're reading this, WC & I need creds to help with the J. Get well soon mate.OMK - LOL the DR!

Nolan - Verlander got front-page (below the fold) story and a full photo in the Sports section in the Houston Chronicle. What a game!

C, Eh - sorry again but Canadian Black Label (<$8/case(?)) was the worst beer we had in HS. Mickey's was a close second. Being older and having more money, Lagunitas' Little Sumpin Sumpin is my sippin' go-to. //Michael - Red Stripe is a good beer too.

Jinx - The first time I heard "American beer is like making love in a canoe" was in Python's Hollywood Bowl. Great stuff.